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Black Mesa
'''Black Mesa is an American research corporation whose headquarters are located in the Black Mesa Research Facility, in the New Mexico desert.Half-Life instruction manual Black Mesa is apparently helmed by the United States government, as the Great Seal can be seen on the ground of several lobbies of the Black Mesa Research Facility, and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as seen on several comlink status screens. Fields array Black Mesa undertakes research in various fields from standard scientific research to radiation, rocketry, theoretical physics, lasers, experimental propulsion, hydraulics, robotics, hydroelectricity, genetics, zoology, applied mathematics and a very wide spectrum of research into chemistry and all manner of physics research. The research is mostly conducted in the Black Mesa Research Facility and includes both pure research and applied science. In addition to this legitimate research, several secret projects are also carried out at Black Mesa, which are deliberately left vague. A large amount of classified research is carried out, including the development of high-tech weapons and defense systems, research into extra-dimensional travel, teleportation, and the study of Xen. During the tram ride into the Black Mesa Facility that opens Half-Life, an announcement on the public address system states that the facility is seeking employees with backgrounds in theoretical physics, biotechnology, and various other high-tech scientific disciplines.The Half-Life chapter Black Mesa Inbound It is also said that jobs in low-clearance security and materials handling are available. Black Mesa, as the same announcement states, is an equal opportunity employer. Personnel Black Mesa employs in its facility two main groups of civilian employees: science personnel and security personnel, along with various other inhabitants including administrative personnel, service personnel and occasionally the employees' families. The base also keeps a small military presence. Competitors Little is known about Black Mesa's competitors. It is known that Aperture Science was competing with Black Mesa on various government contracts, including the development of portal technology. In addition, according to potentially biased information from Aperture Science, Black Mesa received a much larger percentage of contracts than average. The effect that the Xen invasion had on Aperture Science or any of Black Mesa's unnamed competitors is unknown as of now, although judging by the condition of the world be the events of Half-Life 2, it is likely that they have been similarly devastated. It was also said by Cave Johnson that Black Mesa had stolen various technologies from Aperture and put them on the market, a factor that attributed to Aperture Science's bankruptcy. Behind the scenes *Series' writer Marc Laidlaw coined the name "Black Mesa Research Facility". He came up with other names during his brainstorming, including "Black Butte, Nuclear Missile Base" (located in Montana instead of New Mexico), "Sand Basin", "Diablo Mesa", "Mesa Diablo", "Diablo Plains", or "Fertile Plains". He states it is great fun for Valve to invent names for their creations, and then see them go out into the world and take on lives of their own. He also states he is very glad he decided to go with "Black Mesa Research Facility" rather than "Black Butte".Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar *As with Aperture Science, the Black Mesa logo is directly based on the company's name, appearing as a stylized mesa mountain against the sky. *In the ending song of Portal, "Still Alive", GLaDOS mentions Black Mesa, asking Chell who she thinks will help her deal with situations: "Maybe you'll find someone else to help you." / "Maybe Black Mesa..." / "That was a joke. Ha ha. Fat chance." If the song is a part of canon this could imply that GLaDOS is aware of the Black Mesa Incident. *''Portal'' series' writers Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw sees the rivalry between Aperture Science and Black Mesa as "snobs versus slobs", Black Mesa being the snobs and Aperture Science "the slobs, the loveable goofballs"."How Valve Opened Up Portal 2" on Eurogamer.net *In Valve's multiplayer-based first-person shooter Counter-Strike, several Black Mesa logos can be seen on several different maps. They're mostly seen on garage doors and walls, though, it has no relevant connections to Half-Life. Artwork gallery Logos File:Black Mesa logo documents.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on documents. File:Black Mesa logo documents + text.svg|Ditto, with text. It uses the Arial font. File:Black Mesa container logo blue1.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on blue containers. File:Black Mesa container logo blue + text.svg|Ditto, with name. File:Black Mesa container logo red1.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on red containers. File:Black Mesa container logo red + text.svg|Ditto, with name. File:Black Mesa logo SUV.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on the SUVs, different from the common logo. File:Black Mesa clean suit.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on the scientists' clean suits. File:Black Mesa orange flag.svg|Black Mesa flag as seen above the personnel entrance in Blue Shift, featuring a less schematic mesa. File:Black Mesa logo Alyx sweater Beta.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on Alyx's sweater, Beta version. File:Black Mesa logo Alyx sweater.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on Alyx's sweater, retail version. File:Lobby map full.png|The Black Mesa name and logo on a world map seen in the Sector C lobby. File:Black Mesa lobby.jpg|Ditto, in situ. File:Lobby map Ep2.png|The Black Mesa name and logo on a world map seen in a Black Mesa lobby during G-Man's Episode Two's monologue at Black Mesa. The only difference with the one seen in documents is that it uses the Helvetica font instead of Arial. File:BM logo Ep2.svg|Vector version. File:Ep2 outland 020014.JPG|G-Man's Episode Two's monologue at Black Mesa, with the logo and world map behind him. File:Still Alive black mesa.png|The Black Mesa logo featured in the Portal end credits, appearing when mentioned in the "Still Alive" lyrics. File:Black Mesa logo G-Man briefcase.svg|The Black Mesa logo on G-Man's briefcase in the GoldSrc models. File:Black Mesa logo truck.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on the Decay truck. File:BMRF transport.svg|The Black Mesa Research Facility Transport Division logo as seen on the Decay truck. File:Black Mesa logo barney.svg|The Black Mesa logo as seen on the security guard's chest. File:Black Mesa badge header.svg|Black Mesa header seen on personnel badges. File:Security.svg|"Security" logo as seen on the security guard's back. File:Security hd.svg|Ditto, HD version. File:Glados screens blackmesa001.png|The Black Mesa logo as seen on GLaDOS' screens at the end of Portal. File:BMTattoo.png|Black Mesa tattoo as seen during the "Portal is Free" video. File:Superbus via inscientiae.png|Logo seen on the ground of the Advanced Biological Research Lab lobby, featuring the Latin words "Superbus Via Inscientiæ", and a DNA double helix in the middle. The best translation would be "Proud by way of ignorance", although the phrasing is not common. Advertisements File:C1A0 FLIPSIGN6.png|Black Mesa Science Team advertisement. File:C1A0 FLIPSIGN4.png|Black Mesa Security Force advertisement. File:Ba propaganda2.png|Black Mesa Science Team advertisement. File:Ba propaganda1.png|Shooting Range advertisement. File:Propaganda 02.png|Clean suit advertisement. File:Propaganda 01.png|Safety advertisement. File:C1A0 FLIPSIGN1.png|Apache advertisement. File:C1A0 FLIPSIGN2.png|Hydro-electric dam advertisement. File:C1A0 FLIPSIGN5.png|Black Mesa Transit System advertisement. File:C1A0 FLIPSIGN7.png|Safety advertisement. File:Ba propaganda3.png|Advertisement about the future. File:C1A0 FLIPSIGN8.png|Advertisement of the surroundings of the facility. File:Colette looking at propa.jpg|Colette Green looking at ads in Black Mesa. Others File:Blue Marble calendar 2.png|Calendar set on December, with the "Blue Marble" photo (original image). File:POSTER17.png|Ditto (unused texture file) (original image). File:Aperture Slide 1.png|Title card of the slideshow where Aperture Science compares itself with Black Mesa, as seen in Portal. File:Aperture Slide 2.png|Second card of the slideshow. File:Aperture Slide 3.png|Third card of the slideshow. File:Aperture Slide 4.png|Fourth and last card of the slideshow. File:Dollars and sense.jpg|The slideshow in situ. List of appearances *''Half-Life: Day One'' *''Half-Life'' *''Half-Life: Uplink'' *''Half-Life: Opposing Force'' *''Half-Life: Blue Shift'' *''Half-Life: Decay'' *''Half-Life 2'' *''Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar'' *''Half-Life 2: Episode One'' *''Portal'' *''Half-Life 2: Episode Two'' *''Portal 2'' References Category:Half-Life Category:Factions Category:Black Mesa